Port advance to Round 2 of Senior Football Championship

Port 3-14 Arles- Killeen 1-13 after extra time.

Port earned a hard earned victory after extra time over a dogged Arles Killeen side in another tight encounter tonight in O’Moore Park.

Port started brightly and had the better of the first quarter with a fine goal from Colm Murphy after 12 minutes with a brace of points from Jason Moore putting 4 between the teams after 15 mins. Poor shooting from Port let them down in second quarter and Donie Kingston’s influence increased when moved out to centre-field leaving Arles – Killeen to lead 1-5 to 1-3 at half time thanks to a Jason Enright penalty conceded late in the half.

The third quarter saw Killeen stretch their lead to 4 points, but on the 23rd minute, a fine individual goal from Colm Murphy again saw Killeen’s lead reduced to the minimum. Points from Jason Moore and Evan Lyons cancelled out two Killeen points by Jason Enright and Paul Kingston, leaving the minimum between the teams going into additional time, where an Evan Lyons short free found Jordan Fitzpatrick who slotted it over the bar to send the game in to extra time.

In extra time Port found an extra gear putting pressure on Arles from the throw in and were up by three points in as many minutes. With Killeen visibly tiring Port added a further two points to lead by 5 at the interval. Four minutes into the second half of ET Jason Moore capped a fine performance and put the tie beyond doubt with a screamer of a goal taken at pace from 20 yards out. From that point on Port closed the game out and now advance to the second round to face Ballyroan-Abbey on Sunday 13th August 7:30 throw in in O,Moore Park.

Best on the night where the every player that took to the pitch gave their all were Jason Moore, Colm Murphy & Stephen Lyons in the forwards, with Diarmuid Bennett and Patrick O’Sullivan the pick of the backs, special mention goes to Robbie Pigott who put in a fine performance when moved to centre field in the second half against Arles Killeen’s talisman Donie Kingston after good work also by Eoin McCann who went off injured late in the first half.